Familytreedna.com review – Find your origins and your DNA relatives

Y-DNA: It provides all the information related to your paternal lineage. This will give you

mtDNA: It provides all the information related to your maternal lineage.

After comparing these offers to 23andme and AncestryDNA, FamilytreeDNA.com has reports that other websites don’t have. Nevertheless, it also requires getting knowledgeable about DNA testing as it is more complicated than other DNA testing websites.

I have ordered the kit to get results for the three main tests: Family Finder, Y DNA, mtDNA. I received the kit. I have identified something that looked like a toothbrush and I swabbed the inside of my cheek. I have placed the toothbrush inside the little test tube and send it back. After 3 weeks, I received the results.

Review of the results of the Family Finder DNA test:

The Family Finder test is the result of autosomal test meaning that the results will give information within the last five generations of all male and female ancestors.

Family Finder > Ancient European origins:

This results page provide percentages of ancestors who were Bronze age invaders, Farmers, Hunter-gatherers, and non-Europeans. These results come from the autosomal DNA test in the “family finder” offer. I didn’t find this report anywhere else.

Family Finder > The ethnic makeup map & percentage:

Familytreedna provides a map with the different regions of your ethnic makeup on a world map. This comes with the percentage for every DNA group. Your DNA is compared to 24 DNA groups coming from different regions of the world. These 24 reference populations are: South Central Africans, East central Africans, West Africans, North and central Americans (Native Indians), South Americans (Native Indians), Central Asians, Oceanians (Natives), South central Asians, Northeast Asians, Siberians, Southeast Asians, people from Asia minor, Middle Easterns (East). North Africans, West middle East, British people, Eastern Europeans, Finnish, Scandinavians, Southeastern Europeans, West and central Europeans, Ashkenazi (Jewish Diaspora from Europe), Sephardic (Jewish Diaspora from North Africa). Take into account that every DNA testing labs choose different populations for testing.

Percentages of DNA group for “Family Finder” customer. (Example)

Family Finder > DNA matches:

FamilyTreeDNA provides the list of DNA relatives who share a percentage of their DNA with you whatever the lineage (paternal or maternal). Consequently, if one of your cousin (let’s say the son of your mother’s brother), you should see the family member in the list. You can also find distant cousins in the list. It is possible to send them a message and see their list of surnames if they have decided to share it. It is easy to identify a DNA relative.

Family Finder > Chromosome Browser:

The chromosome browser helps you to compare your chromosome markers with your DNA relatives. You can choose several people to compare to. Then, the common markers will be displayed on one of the chromosomes in color. It is good to have a graphical representation to see what it means when a DNA relative is close.

Y-DNA – Paternal lineage results:

Here you can see the results of the Y chromosome DNA tests that male customers of FamilyTreeDNA can undertake.

Y-DNA > Ancestral Origins:

This page shows the country of origin from other users with the same paternal lineage than you. It helps to see the frequency of your Y-DNA depending on the country from real data of other FamilytreeDNA users. I haven’t found this report on any other websites.

Y-DNA > Y-DNA matches:

This page shows the list of Y DNA relatives meaning people from the paternal lineage who share a percentage of DNA with you. Note that you can contact these users by sending a message.

Y-DNA > Y-DNA migration maps results:

This map shows the migration of the male ancestors of the paternal lineage through the centuries. It shows also the lineage of the Y DNA haplogroups from your male ancestors. A second map shows the frequencies of Y-DNA haplogroups depending in different regions of the world.

Y-DNA > SNP map:

This map shows the location of other FamilyTreeDNA users who share the same Y haplogroup than you. I haven’t seen such a map on other DNA testing websites. I think it is interesting to see the frequencies of Y haplogroups depending on the country of origin.

Y-DNA > raw Y-STR results:

The raw Y-STR results show your DNA markers for your Y DNA. Then, you can join a familytreeDNA project group and share these results. You can then compare your results with these users coming from all over the world to see the similarities and differences of genetic markers on a spreadsheet.

Y-DNA > Y-DNA haplotree result:

This shows your Y DNA haplogroup breakdown on a tree. It is possible to order additional tests from this page to get more granularity for your Y DNA haplogroup. This information will be useful for the future when DNA researchers will give more insight about later Y DNA haplogroups.

mtDNA results:

The mtDNA results are related to the mitochondrial DNA which is inherited from the mothers. This gives insight about the maternal lineage. The mtDNA markers makeup is called the mtDNA haplogroup aka the maternal haplogroup.

mtDNA > ancestral origins:

This list shows the number of familytreeDNA users who share your mtDNA depending on the country. Consequently, you can see the real percentage of people with your mtDNA haplogroup for a given country. This table is very good because it shows actual reliable data.

mtDNA > matches:

This page shows a list of familytreeDNA users who share the same mtDNA haplogroup than you. Consequently, they are the DNA relatives in relation to your maternal lineage.

mtDNA > matches map:

This page shows a world map of mtDNA haplogroup matches. Thanks to this map you can see the frequency of people sharing your mtDNA depending on the country.

mtdna > ancestral origins:

This map shows the alleged migration of your female ancestors. There is also a map with percentages of mtDNA haplogroups depending on the regions of the world. This data comes from the state of scientific knowledge.

mtDNA > mtDNA raw results:

The raw results of your mtDNA help you to do additional researches on the internet. You can also download it to your computer.

Summary

Reviewer

Jan Bommel

Review Date

2017-07-28

Reviewed Item

FamilyTreeDna

Author Rating

4

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